Confessions
by eternata
Summary: Written for a drabble challenge - Remus has a confession to make. Possibly the most overused plot device, ever. Mild slash, if you sort of squint.


Written for a drabble challenge - Remus, James, and Sirius at Hogwarts, when they find out about Remus being a werewolf.  
  
Or, well, when Remus finds out that they've found out that he's a werewolf, the the others find out /something else entirely/.  
  
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Confessions  
  
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When he decided that he'd had enough of hiding the truth from his friends, he called a meeting in the library during lunchtime on one unremarkable Tuesday afternoon. His name came up on the duty roster to clean the herbology labs that day, and he was one of the last to arrive, still trailing flecks of soft garden dirt and trying desperately to avoid Filch as he ducked into the library wing.   
  
James and Sirius were already seated at the table in a remote corner of the library that they'd claimed as their own, studying what looked like a particularly intimidating text on Transfiguration, and they waved when he walked up and took a seat.  
  
"Where's Peter?" he asked curiously, looking around.   
  
"He forgot his Charms homework," Sirius told him. "I think he's copying James' in the common room now."   
  
Remus had long since given up trying to make his friends do their own work, and just sighed and shook his head.   
  
"I rather wanted all of you to be here," he said. "There's something I want to tell you..."   
  
"You can tell us first," James suggested, brushing his hair out of his eyes with an easy flick, "And tell Peter when we see him later."   
  
"That doesn't seem fair," he protested. "I've already kept it from you all for long enough... and it's not really something I want to say in front of everyone in the common room."  
  
"So drag him into the men's room and whisper it into his ear," Sirius said, grinning. "Besides, I think he already knows."   
  
Remus blinked. "What?"   
  
James cuffed Sirius hard on the ear, drawing a quickly stifled yelp, then shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, Remus. We kind of figured it out already."   
  
He slumped down on his seat, and swore that he could /feel/ his face going red, inch by inch. "How long ago did you find out?"   
  
"We started suspecting a few months ago, but didn't confirm it until recently," Sirius said, rubbing reproachfully at his ear and glaring at James.   
  
"I'm glad you trusted us enough to tell us about it," James said, with another warning look in Sirius' direction.  
  
"Was I really that obvious?" Remus asked, face going redder. "And you don't mind?"  
  
"It's pretty obvious if you know where to look," James said. "But I don't think anyone else has figured it out..."   
  
Remus groaned quietly and put his head down on the table, cheek against the cool stone.   
  
"You're going to get ink stains on your face," Sirius told him. "Besides, if we minded, we wouldn't be here researching the ways we can help, right?"   
  
Remus blinked, not lifting his head.   
  
"...researching?"   
  
"Yeah," Sirius said. "But the transfiguration section hasn't been really helpful."  
  
"... ...transfiguration?" he asked.   
  
"We figured that was the easiest place to start searching for how to become an animagus..."   
  
"You'll probably find animagi under wandless magic and personal enchantments," Remus said absently. "Actually, you'll probably find animagi under the restricted section--" James wordlessly lifted the book he had gone back to studying, revealing the large 'R' stamped on the spine. "--but I guess that isn't a problem for you. Wait, animagi?"   
  
"Yeah," Sirius said. "We figured that it might help when you... you know," he waved his hand vaguely.  
  
If his face could go any redder, Remus thought that he'd probably look more like a common garden tomato than actual person. Either his friends were much, much larger deviants than he'd ever suspected, or... or /something/, anyway.   
  
"Sirius," he said.   
  
"Yes, Remus?"   
  
"What on earth," he asked, leaning across the table and lowering his voice, "Do animagi have to do with my sexual preference?"   
  
"Sexual preference?" Sirius blinked. James looked up from the from the transfiguration text, green eyes wide behind his glasses. Comprehension was like a switch flicking on for the both of them, and Sirius almost tripped against the hem of his own cloak when he jumped to his feet.  
  
"Holy shit," he yelped. "You're /gay/?!"   
  
James tugged him down roughly. "Shhh!" he hissed, looking around--the alcove they were in was still deserted, and it didn't seem as though Madam Pince's wrath was about to descend on them anytime soon, and he relaxed.   
  
"I thought you said you said you knew!" Remus said accusingly, embarrassment giving way to indignation.   
  
"I thought you were going to say that you were a werewolf!" Sirius shot back.   
  
"Obviously not--wait, you /know/ that?" he asked.   
  
When his obvious shock over the revelation passed, James looked at each of them in turn, then took his glasses off and massaged at one temple with a slightly pained expression.   
  
"Found out months ago," Sirius said. "Why /else/ do you think we wanted to become animagi?"   
  
"Well," Remus said slowly, "Not because of my sexual preference, I hope."   
  
The tight knot of dread that built somewhere inside him at the mention of the word 'werewolf' began to dissipate, like it was made of smoke and didn't matter at all. Sirius stared for a moment, then started to laugh.  
  
"No wonder you looked like you were going to have a heart attack when we started talking about turning into animals and all," he snickered.  
  
"I was beginning to worry," Remus admitted.   
  
Sirius stopped laughing, and looked up at him with a grin and wicked sparkle in his eyes.   
  
"You know, even if that transfiguration book we found doesn't have anything on animagi," he said, "It's pretty comprehensive... and it's in the restricted section for a reason. I bet it can still be useful in some other ways, if you know what I--"  
  
"No, Sirius," Remus interrupted at the exact same moment that James punched him hard on the arm without even looking up. "Just... no."   
  
Sirius doubled over, clutching his wounded limb theatrically to himself, and Remus laughed until the bell scattered them to class.   
  
end  
  
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The requester said that I could leave out Peter, so, uh, I did. =D Written directly into an LJ comment box and only given a cursory once-over, so please excuse any errors. Grossly inaccurate characterisation, however, would be entirely my fault. 


End file.
